Well its that time of the year again for TheMailMan. Daddy needs a new toy. Only this year my choices are great and my wallet is small. So what should I do?

1. Get a Phenom II X6.
Pros:
-Its a six core!
-Six core would help me with Photoshop which I make a living with.
-It will OC to 3.6 by default using "turbo" for single threaded applications.
-I could sell my 955 for 120 and get the x6 for 170!

Cons:
-Its the FIRST AMD six core for desktop.
-Other than Photoshop I don't really have a use for more than 3 cores.
-I already have a 955.
-I'm running DDR2

2. Get another 5850.
Pros:
-Its a 5850 for f@#k sake.
-I already have one and a second would bring me crossfire bliss.
-I have an open PCI-E slot thats lonely.

Cons:
-Its 300 bones!
-A single 5850 is overkill for most games and crossfire isn't always supported.
-The cost of two 5850s put me in 5970 range without 5970 performance.

3. Get a PS3.
Pros:
-The PS3 has a ton of games I have been dieing to play.
-Plays Blu-Ray which I currently do not have.
-The system is way cheaper than it used to be.
-It would piss the wife off!

Cons:
-Game cost. 59 bucks for games that do not support dedicated servers.
-I can get a Blu-Ray player for my PC a lot cheaper.
-I play mostly FPS and this is a console. Nuff said.
-This would be another system I would have to "support" in the house.
-It would piss the wife off!

Thats a really tough choice! Well if I were you, the most obvious choice would be to get another 5850, that would be...overkill ftm, but there's no such word in the hardware world anyways! If you like ps3 exclusives, that would be good too. Dunno if god of war et al interests you, but they seem interesting, so a ps3 too might be a good choice, since you've got a pretty good setup anyways.

You've got plenty of processing power and ram. Doubt the cpu or crossfire would be worth it for the cost. There's only like 2 games that would need 2x 5850s to run well, and you're right about the cost of owning a ps3... Given all that, have you considered just saving your money?

I don't see much of a performance gain from the Phenom II X6. More cores would be nice for Photoshop, but like you say, it probably won't be too noticeable otherwise.

The extra 5850 probably won't help much either (unless you're gaming at a very large resolution). Unless you're actually struggling for FPS, I'd wait on this one. There are rumors that prices might drop slightly in the near future. Very scarce, completely unconfirmed, no-evidence rumors.

The PS3, for me personally, does two things. It plays Gran Turismo 5 and is awesome for Folding@home. Other than that, probably not amazing and/or worth the price.

I'd look at a new motherboard that supports AM3 and DDR3, but it looks like it might cost quite a bit to replace that 8GB you have now. Maybe a nice SSD?

Well I say get the 5850. we all remember amd's first phenom right?? what if seeing how its a new architecture the X6 turns out like that?? initial results seem ti point that it needs around 1.4v or more to run stock. ocing that thing would be nightmarish. you will see more performance from another gpu than you will that cpu. the option isnt in the poll but if you get the X6 itch go for the unlockable X4 to X6 it will more than likely be half price and same performance and you could still get the 5850

i would go with 5850, x6 looks good too but not much gaming wise. u got 1920 x 1080 resolution which is nice, and demanding for some titles. second 5850 :0)
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heehhe, i'd say just save the money, i voted for the x6 amd but i'm not a amd person, if you will use the extra cores and it will make u're work faster(in a noticeable way) go for that, in any case i wouldn't go for the second HD5850 and i wouldn't piss off the wife.
Hope i helped a bit.

Ok I voted for x6 simply because it's neat..
Personally I'd go with option 4
Which is a 890gx and DDR3 1600..(8-8-8-24 or better)
I know everyone says you wont notice any extra performance and to that end I call BS on everyone that does
You already have a good CPU that's not seeing it's full potential
Plus it's the cheapest route
you could probably get $140 for that memory you have and at least $50 for that board
and you could get a 890gx and 8gb's for about $370-$190 and have only spent $160 and then you would have a much better path to upgrade once Sata3 HDD's become cheaper and faster
That is unless you want to wait for Bulldozer then I say just wait period..